


Tales of Zestiria 2

by WrestleCrazyGamer



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2018-12-27 00:32:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12070107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrestleCrazyGamer/pseuds/WrestleCrazyGamer
Summary: As it turns out, light and darkness have to balance out. Will the people accept the Dark Shepard? Will they believe his story about the Ascended? Will they be able to reach an understanding with his parents? We'll find out.





	1. The Right Eye of Malevolence

It was a sunny day at Sorey’s home. He and Rose were taking care of some Scattered Bones business and left Lailah to look after their son Rem. Rem boasts a very carefree and adventurous attitude. He was usually seen wearing a short-sleeved shirt with blue shorts. Today was his seventh birthday, but he didn’t seem to be affected by his parents going somewhere for the majority of the day. He had other plans on his mind than a birthday cake.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Lailah asked him as he opened the front door.

“Ladylake.” he replied.

“Armed with the dagger Zaveid gave you?” Lailah asked raising an eyebrow.

“Just because it’s unlikely that I’ll be attacked on the path doesn’t mean that I can’t be attacked.” Rem replied.

“Now what business do you have there?” Lailah asked grinning.

“Seeing Queen Alisha.” he told her.

“She’s a busy woman, she can’t just drop what she’s doing and play with you.” Lailah laughed.

“I’m going whether you let me or not.” Rem smiled before bolting from the house.

“That boy…” Lailah sighed with a smile, when all of a sudden a cold chill shot up her spine.

She looked around, but everything seemed normal. That was when she felt it… Malevolence in an alarming quantity. It shouldn’t be possible for there to be Malevolence in the world. That was when it hit her… Rem… she hurried to find where he was at. She looked and looked but they weren’t anywhere on the path. She then heard Rem cry out… like he was furious.

“I’m coming!” Lailah shouted hurrying to the source of his scream.

In a meadow of flowers, Rem had mounted a pale young woman with short purple hair wearing black metal leggings, a black leotard, a silver breastplate on top, black full-arm gauntlets, and a black choker. Her chest and body were riddled with stab wounds from Rem’s knife. He was crying as he sat on top of her. Panic shot through her as she pulled Rem from the woman’s corpse.

“Rem, Rem look at me, I need you to look at me…” Lailah ordered trying to make him face her as he struggled.

To her horror, the woman’s corpse began to stand. She picked up a blood-stained dual ax from the ground and gave a lifeless stare at them. She staggered toward them and fell forward turning into purple energy that then raged into Rem causing him to gasp before passing out in Lailah’s arms.

“Rem… I’m so sorry…” Lailah cried.

Ten years passed since that day. Rem’s grown into a fit young man who wears the back of his hair in a ponytail. He’s grown out of shorts in favor of black pants made of denim and has grown fond of collared button-up shirts, though he has to roll up the sleeves when he goes out to play. He also traded his knife for what’s called a single-edge sword. In those ten years though he slowly but surely developed heterochromia turning his right iris dark purple. His vision wasn’t impacted and doctors couldn’t identify a cause, so they couldn’t give him any medicine. Rem has made himself known in Hyland as the fastest delivery boy for the Sparrowfeathers around though, so he has that going for him.

“Rem! Come down here for a minute!” Sorey called to him as he napped on the roof of the house.

“He’s totally asleep.” Zaveid laughed.

“Typical of him to find a spot to pass out on when it’s nice like this.” Mikleo sighed.

“I don’t blame the kid. There’s a nice breeze, birds are singing, and above all it’s peaceful.” Zaveid told him.

“Well he’s got deliveries to make, so he can snooze later.” Mikleo scoffed making a water bubble form that then fell onto Rem’s face startling him awake.

“I’m up! I’m up!” he exclaimed.

“You’ve got deliveries to make before you can nap.” Sorey laughed.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to doze that long.” Rem smiled apologetically before leaping down.

“You can still make it on time if you push yourself to the limit.” Zaveid laughed pointing to the cart behind them.

“He might hurt himself doing that, it’s a large load today.” Edna advised.

“Ah, Lailah can heal me if I overdo it.” Rem chuckled dismissively before grabbing the bar of the cart to begin pulling it away.

“Sorey, your son’s an idiot.” Mikleo sighed.

“Don’t say that, he’s just a free spirit that likes a challenge.” Sorey told him.

“So he’s been spending too much time with Zaveid is what you mean to say.” Lailah teased.

“Hey!” Zaveid exclaimed before they all started laughing.

Rem was pushing himself to his fullest as he pulled that cart. At the same time he had to be careful due to having some fragile items onboard. When he got to Ladylake he slid to a stop barely keeping himself from colliding with the supply vendor’s shop. He caught his breath as a girl came out of the shop.

“Five minutes early, Rem. So close to a new record…” she told him.

“Meh, I’ll set a new record someday if I keep training.” he beamed.

“Rem! Rem come quick!” a man in a panicked state exclaimed as he ran up.

“What is it?” Rem asked him.

“It’s Her Highness! Please!” the man pleaded.

Rem followed the man to the castle courtyard where dozens of soldiers were slaughtered as Queen Alisha struggled to stand. Across from her was a priestess wrapped in a shining aura. What was going on?

“Your Majesty!” he exclaimed knocking the priestess back with a punch, knee, roundhouse kick combo.

“Rem… words can’t describe how glad I am to see you.” Alisha smiled despite the pain she was in.

“What’s with her?” Rem asked as their foe began to get up seemingly unphased.

“I don’t know… she just seemed to be a happy priestess, but when a guard said no to her question she went insane and started attacking people. I’ve been driven to lethal force, or at least I’d say that if a blade to the heart didn’t heal instantly.” Alisha replied readying her spear.

“What?!” Rem exclaimed in shock.

“You don’t want to celebrate prosperity either…? Then you can die with them!” the priestess laughed.

Rem drew his sword wielding it with the back of the blade against his arm and began to do battle alongside Alisha. Oddly enough, invisible weapons blocked and countered them time and time again. She even cast artes not traditionally used by humans.

“She has to be getting tired by now… one last push…” Alisha ordered and both charged.

“Chew on this… Holy Cannon!” the priestess laughed beginning to cast.

“Your Majesty, look out!” Rem shouted tackling her out of the way of a blast of light causing him to be shocked with blue electricity making him scream in agony.

“Rem!” Alisha gasped as he fell to his knees smoking a bit.

“How dare you?! That was aimed for her!” the priestess hissed.

Rem’s vision was shaking and he couldn’t stand. That arte really took it out of him. He blinked once, and he was seeing the priestess… and a knight-like monster at the same time? He blinked again and the knight monster was all he could see now. Everything around them began to turn dark as if a storm were rolling in, but there wasn’t a cloud in sight.

“What’s happening?” Alisha asked looking around.

“I-It hurts!” Rem exclaimed holding his right eye feeling an intense burning sensation from it.

Rem screamed in pain as he cried blood and a Malevolent Domain burst from around him startling the onlookers, Alisha, and the monster. From his body the young woman, now wearing her hair in a long ponytail with an added silver metal combat skirt to her leotard, appeared wielding her ax. She charged the priestess and slammed her ax into her sending her to the wall with her left arm severed.

“AAAAAAGH!!! You bastard! How dare you?!” the monster screamed in the priestess’s voice.

“Who are you…?” Alisha asked as the woman turned with a cold look.

“My name is Lambda. I’m a Shadow Seraph and the very first of my kind, born to balance light with darkness.” she replied as she pulled Rem to his feet.

“My eye…” Rem groaned struggling to open his now glowing right eye.

“Stop resisting the feeling inside you… let it flow… let it become part of you… it’s the only way to seize the power to fight the Ascended. Accept Malevolence as part of your very being!” Lambda instructed him.

Rem began to feel odd as his eye opened completely. Feelings of rage began to fill him. Purple energy began to encircle his blade as the feelings began to boil. The knight roared charging as Rem also charged it.

[Rem: Mystic Arte - Bloody Howling]

“Fade into the Abyss…!” Rem exclaimed unleashing many slashes of dark energy into the knight.

He stabbed his sword into its chest and began charging a mass of electrically charged dark energy onto his free hand. He then began brutally bashing it with that hand sending shockwaves through the area until he flung the knight into the air with his sword.

“Hear the Cries of the Damned, Feel their Pain…!” Rem roared leaping into the air above the knight doing a backflip to position himself properly.

He then thrust his sword into the knight tackling it to the ground where a black arte circle appeared. He then kicked off it as the circle finished forming.

“Bloody Howling!” Rem roared as he landed causing a raging fountain of black and purple energy to rage out of the circle engulfing the knight.

When the smoke cleared the priestess was back to normal even in Rem’s vision. Alisha checked her, but she was just unconscious. Sorey and the others arrived on the scene as Rem walked toward Alisha with Malevolence seemingly raging from his eye. A small wing made of purple energy curving around his head had formed from the energy.

“The Malevolence is so thick here… a weaker Seraph would completely lose it in this…” Edna groaned.

“My Lord, The Eye of Malevolence is still letting out dark power. To stop using it you must will it.” Lambda informed Rem.

Rem suddenly got a look as if he’d just realized what he was doing, and the domain faded as the wing on his eye vanished. His eye continued to glow though, which made Sorey and Rose very unnerved.

“What did I do…?” Rem asked Lambda.

“You just awakened to the Eye of Malevolence, the right eye to be precise. One might also refer to it as the ‘Wellspring Eye’ as it can produce endless amounts of Malevolence if the wielder desires it. If you mean to the woman, you purged her of being too full of positive emotions by reminding her that life isn’t all roses. She had become an Ascended.” Lambda replied.

“Now… who… are you?” Rem asked her.

Alisha arranged for a room at the inn, where Lambda was restrained with thick chains. She didn’t understand the need for measures like that. Rose assured her that it was necessary. The group then sat around her with interrogation faces on.

“First… how can you generate enough malevolence to generate a domain?” Sorey asked.

“I’m a Dark Seraph, though if it’s easier for you to understand think of me as a Dragon that kept both its sanity and human appearance.” Lambda replied.

“That isn’t possible.” Edna scoffed.

“You saw my power at work earlier. I shouldn’t need to give you further proof.” Lambda stated.

“Explain what was up with Rem. What was that wing?” Zaveid demanded.

“That was his awakening as the Dark Shepherd. He was born with a special gift… he and his-” she spoke before Zaveid punched her mid-sentence and then turning her around.

“Not a WORD of HIM with Rem able to hear, got it…?” Zaveid growled.

“So that’s what you did that day… very well…” Lambda sighed, and Zaveid turned her back around.

“Try that again.” Zaveid ordered.

“Rem was born with the Right Eye of Malevolence. It has a twin somewhere in the world. Both eyes will always exist at the same time, but not necessarily on the same person.” Lambda explained.

“What do the eyes symbolize?” Rose asked.

“Each eye symbolizes something different. The Left Eye of Malevolence represents rage, desire, envy, and resentment. The Right Eye of Malevolence represents sorrow, pride, greed, and sloth. The eyes tend to appear on those who lack these traits. Rem is unique… as the Right Eye often chooses fair maidens or priests.” Lambda explained to them.

“Malevolence should have been brought under control. Why did the eyes appear?” Sorey asked.

“Light has become too powerful. It is running rampant and is the root cause of the birth of the Ascended, those who believe that people with worries and grievances should forget it all.” Lambda replied with a serious expression.

“What’s so bad about wishing people happiness?” Sorey asked.

“When they start to murder those people’.” she bluntly replied.

“Murder?!” Mikleo exclaimed.

“Yes. It’s happening on this continent and every other continent as well. Ascended are being born and are killing people who refuse to be unconditionally happy.” she nodded.

“Where’s your proof?” Zaveid asked.

“The woman who attacked us.” Alisha sighed.

“Excuse me?” Zaveid asked raising an eyebrow.

“I saw it when that domain triggered… what that woman looked like in Rem’s eyes. She turned back to normal after defeating her.” Aisha nodded.

“Okay… now the question we’ve all been wondering… how do you know our son?” Sorey asked her.

“I was born from the Eyes of Malevolence after Rem and… a boar got into a fight. It’s taken off with an article of his, and his resulting anger caused my birth.” Lambda replied.

“It’s getting late.” Rose sighed.

“We’ll decide what to do tomorrow.” Sorey nodded making eye contact with Rose making her nod.

They made Rem go home while they cleaned up the battle scene. Sorey and Rose then took Lambda into a private room at the inn. They took off the chains too.

“It’s just us now. What were they arguing over that day?” Sorey asked her.

“I was sworn to secrecy by the two of them on that matter. I can divulge that I was born from both of the eyes awakening at once though. When I was born… all I could do was obey orders. That’s why I did what I did without even questioning it.” she replied.

“Who… had the pact to you…?” Rose asked on the verge of tears.

“The younger.” she replied.

“Just to us… as their parents… tell us why they did that…” Sorey pleaded with Lambda.

“How they were treated differently by you.” Lambda told them.

Night came and went. At sunrise Rem sat up and noticed Lambda standing dutifully by his bed. She had her ax in a black leather scabbard attached to a purple leather belt around her waist.

“What do you want?” Rem asked.

“I came to finish our contract.” Lambda replied.

“Contract?” Rem asked raising an eyebrow.

“Exorcists and Seraphim perform Pacts to become partners… Dark Seraphim are different, however… we hold no attachment to the four elements… thus we require a Contract becoming master and servant rather than partners. We negotiate terms that we abide by and then share a kiss upon the lips to, shall we say, sign the dotted line.” Lambda explained.

“I don’t know the first thing about being a Dark Shepherd though… or if people will even accept that stuff about Ascended.” Rem sighed.

“Then it’s a good thing that I know all there is to know, as I was born with the information thanks to the Eyes of Malevolence.” Lambda smiled.

“You said your name is Lambda… why do I have the Right Eye of Malevolence?” Rem asked.

“Humans are no longer able to produce enough malevolence to become Hellions, nor can they purge an Ascended of their excessive joyous emotion. The Eyes of Malevolence grant the bearers absolute power over it. Each eye has its own unique way of making malevolence for purging purposes. Your eye, the right eye, is also known as the Wellspring Eye. Care to guess why?” Lambda replied.

“Wellspring… it… has a lot of malevolence in it?” Rem guessed.

“Close. It has the capability of producing an endless amount of malevolence. It won’t stop until the wielder makes it stop. The domain you produce will also only affect those who you deem a threat, so innocents won’t be harmed by it.” Lambda explained.

“That could create Hellions…” Rem gasped.

“We don’t want that to happen, so I’ll teach you how to control it.” she smiled.

“What would I be doing as this Dark Shepherd?” Rem asked.

“You would seek out the Tower of Empyreans where the Eyes of Malevolence shall give birth to a new Empyrean to balance light and darkness. With their birth, Maotelus would at last have a foil to balance his power with. Of course, as you are now, the process will result in failure and your death.” Lambda explained.

“Why?” Rem asked.

“People lack faith in you as the Dark Shepherd. If no one believes, your powers will never grow. So what we must do is create dark versions of seraphs to grant protection from turning into Ascended. That will increase your eye’s domain, causing more people to see the Ascended’s true forms. First we must grant your eye the ability of a constant domain though, so we must find a seraph willing to convert.” Lambda explained.

“Will those converted seraphs… interfere with dad’s work to prevent the birth of Hellions and Dragons?” Rem asked standing up.

“They themselves will be Dragons in a way, but they will never lose themselves as they are willingly converting in order to serve a greater purpose. In short, they won’t turn anyone into Hellions or Dragons.” she replied.

“It’ll be real tough, huh?” Rem sighed.

“It is for a just cause though, so the journey will be worth it.” Lambda smiled.

“Fine… I’ll be this Dark Shepherd.” Rem told her.

“I vow to help you in any way I can. Now, seal it with a kiss.” Lambda smiled.

Rem nervously placed a hand on the back of Lambda’s head. Now that it came to it, he was extremely nervous. He stomped on his left foot to make him finally kiss her. The instant their lips touched his domain raged into effect as the wing of his eye appeared and magnified to nearly twice its normal size. Rem’s outfit then modified itself turning his shirt pure white while forming a jet black cowl similar to Sorey’s on top of it. Fingerless black gloves formed on his hands bearing white emblems on the backs as his boots became the purest white.

“Now you look the part as well.” Lambda smiled.

“Now what?” Rem asked.

“Let us seek out the seraph tribe hidden in the woods northeast of Ladylake. I’ll have to carve our path there though, as they didn’t want people finding them so they didn’t cut any paths there.” Lambda replied.

“First, breakfast.” Rem smiled as his domain faded and his eye deactivated.

“Actually, it’ll be better if we go now…” Lambda insisted.

“Oh, right, you want the maximum time to cut a path.” Rem smiled.

“More that they don’t know I came here…” Lambda thought to herself.

The two then left the house making for the forest. Not five minutes after they left, Sorey and Zaveid arrived. They checked the house and found that Rem wasn’t there.

“Damn, we’re too late…” Zaveid growled.

“We can still find them. Let’s regroup and search.” Sorey told him.


	2. Conversion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rem and Lambda go through a test to obtain a Dark Wind Seraph.

The sun was partially visible on the horizon as Rem and Lambda arrived at the northeast treeline. Lambda drew her ax and began taking trees down in single swings. Rem could just follow her as she cut their path into the dense forest. Eventually they could walk freely as the trees spaced out a bit.

“Think they grew those trees like that on purpose?” Rem asked.

“To impede intruders? Perhaps.” Lambda replied.

“Which way now?” Rem asked.

“We move northeast some more. We’ll eventually begin to see treehouses built high up near the canopy of the forest.” Lambda instructed him.

The two began to move as the sun rose higher into the sky. Just like Lambda said, treehouses eventually came into sight. Once they entered the actual village Rem jumped when the apparent tribe of Wind Seraphs retreated into their homes.

“Can they… sense our Malevolence?” Rem asked Lambda.

“It’s that they aren’t sure whether you’re a harbinger of death or someone bringing peace. They don’t get visitors often, if at all.” she replied.

“Um… my name is Rem! I’m the son of the Shepherd Sorey! I don’t mean any of you harm!” Rem announced, but was treated with silence.

“No response…” Lambda sighed.

“Guess we’ll have to go somewhere else.” Rem shrugged as Lambda approached the door of the nearest building.

“What are you doing?” Rem asked.

His face went from curious to horrified when Lambda drew her ax and cut the door apart. She then grabbed the female Wind Seraph inside and threw her out onto the ground. Rem couldn’t move, he was so scared. She then yanked out a young boy Wind Seraph and made him sit by his mother.

“You’re to hear him out.” Lambda ordered putting the ax blade to the woman’s neck.

“Lambda, no! The last thing we wanna do is fight, so don’t give them a reason to!” Rem scolded her yanking her ax from her.

“I-I’m scared…” the boy cried.

“Ma’am, I’m very sorry. She’s sorry too.” Rem told them kneeling down.

“Why should I be? They were being rude.” Lambda scoffed prompting Rem to nail her shin with the butt of her ax making her drop so he could force her to bow.

“You’re either sorry now and going to apologize or I’m going to MAKE you sorry.” Rem growled.

“The hell’s going on here?” a tough female voice asked.

A tall muscular yet very femininely gifted Wind Seraph with very long wavy emerald green hair and light green eyes entered the village. She wore dark green foot wraps, black pants designed for practicing martial artes, dark green hand wraps, a black bikini top with dark green bandages wrapped around her chest beneath the top, and a necklace of fangs. She wore a stern expression and was dragging a log sled with lots of mushrooms and herbs in it behind her using a yellow cord.

“Typha, thank Maotelus… this man and his Dragon attacked the village and plan on using us to take resources…” the woman cried.

“What?!” Rem exclaimed.

“So I’m the reason they didn’t take kindly to your presense.” Lambda spoke to herself.

“How come you’re not denying it?!” Rem scolded her.

“That a fact, huh? You picked the wrong village to try and pillage you friggin’ asshats!” Typha roared cracking her knuckles before her neck.

“W-Wait!” Rem cried as she charged.

“She won’t listen to reason. Fight to clear your name.” Lambda told him as she charged into battle with Typha.

“Man…” Rem groaned reluctantly joining the battle.

Typha moved very fast, as expected of a Wind Seraph. She employed a mix of wind-based artes and grappling moves. She put Lambda out of commission when she slammed her hands on the ground to spin her legs like a tornado dislocating Lambda’s right arm after hitting a tree. When Typha came at him he dropped his sword to lock hands with her. The two pushed back against each other, although Typha’s body was definitely stronger than him making it hard on Rem. In their struggle Rem’s desperation caused his Eye of Malevolence to trigger sending his domain across the village making Typha back flip away from him.

“W-What’d you do…? I feel heavy for some reason…” Typha groaned.

“Now, Rem, defeat her while she’s too weakened by the malevolence to pose a threat!” Lambda called making Rem retrieve his sword.

“So this is a Malevolent Domain… it’s way worse than the legends said they were…” Typha growled.

The fight resumed, but Typha was heavily crippled by the domain. Rem could easily dodge her now and when her hits did land they didn’t carry even half their original force. Rem was careful that his blows were non-fatal, as he didn’t want to kill her but render her unable to continue. After ten minutes of one-on-one fighting Typha finally fell to her knees defiantly trying to get back up.

“Stop it and hear me out. She lied to you, we wanted to talk with the people and Lambda jumped the gun forcing her out of her home.” Rem told her.

“Who even are you…?” Typha coughed.

“I’m Rem, son of the Shepherd Sorey, and I’m the Dark Shepherd. I know that sounds bad, but please hear me out.” Rem told her.

“Son of the Shepherd…? Great, now I owe you more than just an apology for the mixup…” Typha groaned.

Rem deactivated his eye and helped her walk to the elder’s house, where Rem also helped Lambda pop her arm back in place. The elder was a female Wind Seraph who appeared to be at the twilight years of her life. She had healers begin curing Typha’s wounds. She wore green and white robes fitting a Seraph.

“The Son of a Shepherd, shrouded in malevolence. This was foretold long ago.” the elder spoke.

“You knew we’d be coming?” Rem asked.

“You didn’t think to give everyone a heads up?!” Typha scolded her.

“I planned to, but my advisor told me it’d cause a panic. It looks to me that not telling them made a bigger one though.” the elder told her and Typha then glared at the Seraph sitting by the elder who guiltily looked down.

“So you already know why we’re here?” Lambda asked.

“Yes. You need to birth a Dark Wind Seraph, or perhaps Wind Dragon is a more fitting title?” the elder replied.

“Indeed. To do that, a Wind Seraph must perform what I’ve coined as a Death Warrant with the Dark Shepherd.” Lambda nodded.

“What’s that mean?” Rem asked her.

“It’s the term for the Contract where the Seraph will surrender themselves to malevolence and be bound under your power to become the dark form of their species. Dark Wind Seraph and Wind Dragon are interchangeable as are the others.” Lambda explained.

“So it’s essentially dying and being reborn a Dragon…” Typha growled.

“Yet it is necessary. The Shepherd traded one evil for another… but fear not, there is no Lord of Salvation you must slay. There is no predetermined path for you either.” the elder smiled.

“How can we trust them?” Typha asked.

“You’re saying we should test them?” the elder replied.

“You know what? Yeah. Make sure they’re the real deal. I say have them get rid of that whacko that’s making people ‘believe in true peace’ in the old temple.” Typha smirked.

“If we’re ‘the real deal’ then you’ll be our gracious volunteer for the Death Warrant.” Lambda smiled.

“What?!” Typha exclaimed.

“Your thoughts, Rem?” the elder asked.

“I’m down for a challenge.” he smiled.

“Hold it!” Typha barked.

“Then it’s settled.” the elder giggled.

“NOTHING IS SETTLED!!!” Typha screamed agitating her wounds.

“Typha, every test requires a just reward for the participant’s efforts. Is this not a just reward?” the elder asked with a sadist’s gaze.

“So where is this temple?” Rem asked.

“There’s a trail to the left of this house, it should only be a twenty minute walk from here..” the elder replied.

“Better be fakes…” Typha groaned.

Rem and Lambda headed down the trail through the forest. The monsters along the way seemed to mostly be wildlife and sentient plants. The sun was high in the sky as they reached a clearing where the old temple was resting. There was a Holy Domain over it, which meant one of two things. Either a Guardian Seraph was there or it was an Ascended dwelling inside there. Rem and Lambda shared a glance before both heading to the doors and pushing them open.

“Welcome sinners…” a man’s voice spoke.

At that moment Rem’s eye activated revealing a massive spider Ascended bearing blue and gold colors. A divine symbol was carved into its forehead indicating this was the priest they were after.

“Have you come to confess your sins and embrace the joy brought by the Shepherd?” the Ascended asked.

“Embracing joy is fine and all, but you have to make sure to take care of your life too.” Rem replied.

“What else is there? The joy of salvation is all anyone needs!” the Ascended roared.

“Rem, you can’t talk it out with the Ascended. You have to purge them of their excessive happy emotions.” Lambda told him.

“If you won’t accept joy… then die!” the Ascended howled.

Rem and Lambda engaged him using the tightness of the temple to their advantage. His exterior was hard as steel startling them. Rem’s inability to harm him quickly began to agitate him. Malevolence began to radiate from Rem’s free arm as he clenched his fist.

“Rem, that much malevolence could turn even a strong Seraph into a Hellion if it connects!” Lambda gasped seeing the power wrapped around his fist.

[Rem: Malevolent Arte - Devil’s Knuckle]

“I don’t care! I’m sick of not doing a thing to it! So I’m going to force it to take malevolence into it!” Rem roared as he punched the Ascended straight in the mouth making the malevolence on his arm rush inside his body.

The Ascended backed away howling and hissing as a barrier of energy around his body appeared and then shattered. Both Rem and Lambda were shocked as the Ascended began coughing up blood. This was their chance to turn it around though, so they charged once again. This time their weapons were very effective against him. When he backed away shaking and trying to remain standing Rem’s blade began to radiate with malevolence.

“Now with your blade coated in darkness, finish him!” Lambda ordered and Rem wasted no time rushing him delivering one final slash going through him.

“All I wanted… was to revel in the peace…” the Ascended groaned before falling exploding into black flames leaving behind an elderly priest.

“Is he…?” Rem asked as he knelt with Lambda by him.

“No, he’s just unconscious. This old timer must really have loved the peace Shepherd Sorey brought to have become an Ascended bearing a Veil of all things.” Lambda replied.

“A Veil?” Rem asked curiously.

“That’s what that energy barrier around him was. Some Ascended, when they’ve grown sufficiently strong, gain an all-protecting barrier called a Veil. Only a heavy dose of malevolence can break them. It seems that arte you performed is just what you need to break the enemy’s Veil. Until it’s broken you could hit it with Arcane Artes or even a Mystic Arte and it wouldn’t even put a scratch on them.” Lambda explained.

“We shouldn’t just leave this guy here though… let’s take him back to the village with us.” Rem suggested.

“We don’t know if he’ll be able to see them, but at least they can make sure he gets the help he’s going to need after this. An Ascended doesn’t remember what they were doing during their time as one after turning back.” Lambda nodded.

Rem lifted the old priest onto his back and carried him back to the village. Lambda was relieved that the elder already knew about the Ascended situation. They agreed to see to it the priest was properly treated and even said it wouldn’t be a problem talking since they can sense his high resonance. All that left was Typha holding up her end of the deal. The elder led them up to her home on the third level of treehouses.

“They actually did it?!” Typha exclaimed standing from her bed.

“Indeed. They even brought him back here once they’d turned him back into a human.” the elder smiled.

“Turned him back? From being what?” Typha asked.

“He had become an Ascended. If you listened to my lectures even half as intently as you claim you’d have known.” the elder scoffed.

“Damn it…” Typha growled punching the wall.

“It’s time that you held up your end of the bargain, Typha. Make a Contract with Rem.” Lambda ordered.

“Indeed. That was the agreed upon reward for it.” the elder nodded.

“Tch… so how does this work?” Typha asked begrudgingly.

“You negotiate the terms of the Contract, what you must do for him and the like. Mine states that I must aid him in all things pertaining to mastering the Right Eye of Malevolence.” Lambda replied.

“Fine…” she scoffed.

“You’re a Wind Seraph… so… you don’t have to bow to me or anything, but I’d like the extra help with combat.” Rem smiled.

“That’s all you’re asking?” Typha asked raising an eyebrow.

“Well the obvious would be making a vessel to instill your power into the land here so that the Ascended turn back into humans no matter how far away you are.” Lambda replied.

“Whatever…” Typha sighed.

“Now, if you both consent to the terms, kiss.” Lambda told them.

“Whoa, whoa! Who said anything about kissing?!” Typha exclaimed.

“That’s how it works. It’s sealed with a kiss, proof of your trust in your master. You must form the Contract, so pucker up.” Lambda told her.

“You’re just okay with that, Dark Shepherd…?” Typha asked him.

“If it’s for the greater good, then yes. You can hit me all you like if it bothers you, but I still have to make the contract. If she’s going to become a Dragon though I suggest we go to the ground where there’s lots of open space first.” Rem replied.

“Capital idea.” the elder nodded.

They returned to the ground and Lambda formed a glowing purple Contract Circle beneath Rem and Typha. Nervously, Rem placed his hands around her waist and stood on his toes to reach her lips. The Contract emblem then burned itself into Typha’s back making her cry out. Rem backed up as she held her body groaning in pain. Four black Dragon horns with glowing green veins in them began to grow and protrude forward from the sides of her head. Similar green veins began to etch into her face extending from the outside corners of her eyes.

“Is this normal…?” Rem asked Lambda.

“It’s the Death Warrant at work, she’ll be fine.” Lambda replied.

Typha let out a pained scream as her teeth all became sharp, her eyes turned pure glowing green, and large black Dragon wings burst from her back. Black scales covered her forearms as from the forearms down began growing causing her hand wraps to rip apart. Claws replaced her fingernails as her toenails became talons. Her hair then went pure white as her skin darkened to a chocolate brown.

“Damn it, we’re too late!” Zaveid cursed as he and Sorey ran into the village.

Typha then let out an agonized scream as bright green flames exploded from her obscuring her form. When the flames settled, in her place was now a massive black scaled quadrupedal Dragon bearing many glowing green accents. She let out a ground-shaking roar at Sorey and Zaveid.

“When does she change back…?” Rem asked in a panic.

“After her body adjusts to being filled with malevolence. She has a strong will, so roughly five… six hours?” Lambda replied thinking on it.

“That’s a long time!” Rem exclaimed.

“Rem turned her into a Dragon…?” Sorey asked marveling at Typha.

“REM!!!” Zaveid roared charging him.

“Wait, I can explain!” Rem cried, but he was showing no signs of stopping.

Just when Zaveid was about to slug him, Typha’s tail coiled around Zaveid and tossed him into the distance with ease. To Sorey’s shock Typha then grabbed Rem with her tail lifting him up before she let out a roar at Sorey. She growled as Lambda walked toward Sorey.

“She says to hear him out or she’ll eat you.” Lambda told him.

“Fine…” Sorey sighed.

Reluctantly he sat down and heard Rem and Lambda out. Zaveid joined shortly after covered with injuries along with branches and leaves sticking out of his hair. The locals cleaned him up as he listened. Eventually, as Lambda had said, Typha returned to human form but retained her dark skin and white hair that now bore green tips with her horns still prominently sticking through.

“Typha… as in ‘Typhoonia the Living Storm’?” Zaveid asked.

“That’s right, but use my full name again and I’ll punch you out…” she replied.

“So now you’re essentially doing the opposite of what I did so long ago…” Sorey sighed.

“It’s necessary. I can’t stop now.” Rem nodded.

“I can’t safeguard you from any hate you’ll get.” Sorey told him.

“I wouldn’t want you to. I’m walking this path no matter how hard it gets for me.” Rem confidently told him.

“I don’t approve of Seraphs being turned into Dragons… but if they’re doing it of their own free will then I can’t stop them…” Zaveid sighed.

“You know, someone might try to make the Scattered Bones come after you if you get too infamous.” Sorey warned him.

“It’s fine. They won’t kill unless their claims are true.” Rem smiled.

“Confident, huh? So where are we headed after this, big shot?” Typha asked him.

“Lambda?” Rem delegated the question.

“I have a line on both a Water Seraph and a Fire Seraph. For an Earth Seraph… suffice to say you aren’t ready yet to try what I have planned for that one.” Lambda smiled.

“Hmm… we’ll get the Water Seraph first, since they’ll be able to put us out in case the Fire Seraph isn’t too happy with the idea.” Rem nodded.

“Smart thinking.” Typha nodded.

“I’d make the same choice for the same reason honestly.” Sorey laughed.

“Dad, I know you can’t openly support me because of what I have to do… but I want you to believe in me to do what’s right.” Rem smiled.

“That’s all any parent can do.” Zaveid smirked.

Sorey and Zaveid left as the sun began to set. Rem and Lambda decided to spend one more day in the Wind Seraph’s village before departing. Their next destination would take them across the continent, to the far edge of the Rolance Empire… to a quaint port town named Quartzen.


	3. Therionization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rem runs into a very ancient sword fighter and does something he's not ready for.

It was noon as Rem and company passed over the historic battle ground where Hyland and the Rolance Empire once fought war. The ground still vaguely put one on their toes despite the watch on both sides of the road.

“Anyone else feel like we’re being watched?” Typha asked.

“Not feel… I know we’re being watched…” Lambda replied.

“Are they dangerous?” Rem asked.

“I can feel an intent to fight, that’s for sure.” Lambda replied.

The hairs on the back of Rem’s neck began to stand as their number of footsteps seemed to increase. All of a sudden his instincts made him whirl around to draw his sword stopping the black and red sword of a man dressed in a kimono cold.

“Wow. For a minute I thought you were going to die just like that.” the man laughed.

“Who are you?” Rem asked as Lambda and Typha made him back up with attacks of their own.

“The name’s Rokurou. This place is my stomping ground for monsters and bandits that attack people.” he introduced himself.

“So what’s the big idea attacking Rem like that?” Lambda asked.

“A little birdie told me that he’s got quite the interesting sword style… and when I heard that I couldn’t help but want to test my blades against his. It’s been 700 years since my last challenging fight.” he replied with a smile.

“I’ve heard of him… the Ultimate Swordsman, wielder of both Stormquell and Stormhowl.” Typha nervously spoke.

“If you know that much, don’t disappoint me.” Rokurou chuckled.

“Fine…” Rem readying his blade.

“Rem? You can’t be serious?!” Lambda exclaimed.

“RUN FOR IT!!!” Rem exclaimed fleeing prompting the other two to follow.

“Man, that’s no fun… but when have I let cold feet stop me from having a good fight?” Rokurou laughed before starting to chase them.

When the three passed the guards they stood in Rokurou’s way giving them time to lose him. They’d gone straight through to Lastonbell as a result. They got a room at the inn to rest after that chase.

“Last thing I anticipated was running into Rokurou…” Typha sighed.

“Well, since we’ll be resting until morning, there’s something I wish to explain to Rem that I should have done before.” Lambda spoke up.

“What is it?” Rem asked curiously.

“You’ve heard of Armatization right? Well you possess a similar ability to the that. It’s called Therionization and works in the same vein, but rather than just power over an element with a strength boost you gain our special abilities and traits as well. I have a sturdy stance, so if we Therionized then you’d be much harder to stun.” Lambda explained.

“Then if he Therionized with me he’d have almost unparallelled skill with martial artes. Makes me curious… are we also still conscious when he’s Therionized with us?” Typha asked.

“No. It’d be similar to him devouring us for our power, only it’s temporary. We’ll remember what we did while Therionized through his eyes, which should be quite the experience in of itself.” Lambda explained.

“So how do we Therionize?” Rem asked.

“Similar to Armatizing you’d give us a True Name, only in our case it’d be demeaningly called ‘Slave Name’ since we’re master and servants instead of partners. The technique is a bit too advanced for you at the moment. Let’s wait a bit until you’ve got the basics of using the Right Eye of Malevolence mastered.” Lambda replied shrugging her shoulders.

That night Rem couldn’t stop thinking of Therionization. He’d been training to use his eye since he and Lambda left his home. She made him practice activation and enchanting artes 50 times every morning. That’s all she makes him do, so how advanced could Therionization be? He gently woke up Typha but signaled her not to make a sound and to come with him. He led her out to the plaza with the full moon shining down on them.

“Let me guess, you refuse to let Lambda boss you around and tell you what you are and aren’t ready for?” Typha grinned.

“I can’t get it out of my head. I’ve been doing the basics every morning and she still thinks I haven’t mastered it.” Rem told her.

“I’m usually all for learning the hard way, but we don’t know what’ll happen if it goes wrong with Therionization.” Typha shrugged.

“Only one way to find out.” Rem spoke extending his hand.

“Whatever. She asks, you carried me out here in my sleep.” Typha chuckled taking his hand.

“There they are…” Rokurou grinned as he walked into the plaza.

“Your Slave Name… is Sylph.” Rem spoke and all of a sudden his arm transformed into a massive black and purple claw startling Rokurou and Typha.

All of a sudden pure agony went through Typha’s body making her scream as a black mist engulfed both her and Rem. Rokurou charged out of concern and a wave of purple energy then exploded dispersing the mist knocking Rokurou over. Rem and Typha’s voice let out a loud howl of pained anger. Rokurou got to his feet and marvelled at the being standing before him.

Rem was a good two feet taller than normal, his hair had grown to his knees becoming pure black with red streaks, his left iris was glowing neon green, his right eye now had three wings extending from it, his skin was now deathly pale, and glowing green cracks had etched into the skin on the outside edges of his eyes. His clothing had transformed into black beast hands with sharp purple claws connected to a tight black bodysuit bearing an odd glowing green emblem on the chest, black spike-covered pauldrons, and a glowing purple choker. Both of his arms had become claws but had green energy pulsing through them rather than purple.

“So this is Therionization…” Rem and Typha’s voices spoke in unison as he looked himself over.

“You monster!” Rokurou roared charging, but when he swung Stormquell Rem stopped it dead with a single punch without even being scratched by the edge.

“I feel great… I feel INVINCIBLE!” Rem roared kicking Rokurou back skidding until he crashes into the fountain.

“Oof… certainly has the strength of a Therion…” Rokurou groaned getting back up to find Rem was already standing right in front of him.

“You wanted a fight… now I’ll give you one…” Rem growled.

“I’m in trouble.” Rokurou gulped before being ragdolled across the plaza.

Rem was relentless and lightning fast. Rokurou wasn’t expecting this out of him. The more he looked at him the more he was reminded of an old friend. Rokurou couldn’t even block until Lambda leapt to his rescue making Rem leap back to avoid hitting her.

“That’s enough!” Lambda barked.

“Thanks for the save…” Rokurou sighed.

“Lambda… you could have been… hurt…” Rem groaned as green flames exploded from him.

When the flames extinguished Rem had reverted and Typha was catching her breath lying on her back. Rem fell forward unconscious forcing Lambda to catch him. She then shot a glare at Typha.

“How dare you let him indulge his curiosity with something like Therionization… he could have become the next Lord of Calamity if I hadn’t realized what you were up to!” Lambda growled.

“I’M the one in trouble?!” Typha exclaimed sitting up.

“Yes. Now come on, we’re going back to the room. Rokurou, come, I’ll treat your injuries.” Lambda ordered.

Lambda worked like clockwork to put Rem to bed and see to Rokurou’s injuries. Lambda gave Typha an ice pack confusing her until she gave her a right hook to the face. She then sat down by Rem being careful not to disturb him.

“You said Therionization… and his arms had a distinctive shape in that form... is he connected to Velvet Crowe by chance?” Rokurou asked.

“The Dark Shepherd’s power can be considered to be born of the bond between first Lord of Calamity and Innominat, yes. It is their prayer for a world where people can be happy, and this power would certainly fall in line with that cause.” Lambda explained.

“So is that a yes or no?” Rokurou asked.

“Simplify please.” Typha nodded.

“Yes. It’s connected to Velvet Crowe.” Lambda sighed.

“Got it.” Rokurou smiled giving a thumbs up.

“Who is Velvet Crow?” Typha asked.

“The first Lord of Calamity. She was a Therion type Daemon. Of course, we call the Daemons of yore Hellions nowadays. She devoured Malevolence with her left arm and stopped Innominat from robbing humanity of what it means to be alive.” Lambda replied.

“You’ve done your homework.” Rokurou smiled.

“What’s that mean for Rem?” Typha asked.

“It means that his power is incredible… but he has to be careful, or he could become the next in the line of Lords of Calamity. We want him to balance light and darkness, not shift which of them is the bigger threat again. It’d keep the cycle going. The ultimate goal is break the cycle between the Shepherd and the Lord of Calamity.” Lambda replied.

“There’s a cycle?” Rokurou asked.

“Yes. Every now and then a new Lord of Calamity appears to keep light from being too strong by making an ungodly amount of Malevolence causing Daemons to take over. A Shepherd then appears to return it to light being too strong. The world can’t go further than its limits unless that cycle is broken. That’s where Rem comes in.” Lambda explained.

“So he’s on a mission to break the cycle by making that new Empyrean huh?” Typha pieced together.

“Another god? Guess Laphicet can’t do everything by himself… all right, I’ll be rooting for you.” Rokurou smiled.

“Laphicet?” Typha asked tilting her head.

“Maotelus’s true name. He was once a Seraph, called a Malak at the time, that became an Empyrean to bring the silver flame of purification to the world.” Lambda replied.

“Believe it or not I witnessed it.” Rokurou chuckled.

“There’s no way! That’d make you at least 1,000 years old!” Typha exclaimed.

“Yet it’s true. He is one of the warriors who brought the downfall of the corrupted Abbey before Glenwood was formed.” Lambda giggled.

“You take care of the Dark Shepherd you hear? I’ve got some friends that can spread some good publicity to make travel easier.” Rokurou smiled before leaving the room.

As Rokurou walked he remembered the old days. Eleanor and Magilou both had families and grew old. He’s kept an eye on their family lines as they’ve progressed over time, but never directly contacted them. He was a smiling shadow guarding them from the shadows. Learning about Rem made him think about what he’d been doing. Eizen even became a Dragon along the way. He decided that instead of sitting around watching life go by around him, he’d do something more than just safeguard his friends’ bloodlines and hunt for a strong opponent.


	4. Rem's Admirer?

It was noon as a cliff-top village was savagely attacked by Ascended because the people weren’t optimistic about the crop harvest. A teenage girl with platinum blonde hair and blue eyes dressed in a dancer’s outfit was caressing her injured arm as the Ascended closed in. She closed her eyes crying knowing her fate was sealed…

“Dark Sphere!” Rem’s voice howled.

When she opened her eyes they widened as Rem, Lambda, and Typha fought the Ascended with great ease. Staring at the stranger’s back she couldn’t help but believe that the Empyreans had sent an angel to save her. His looks absolutely captivated her… he couldn’t just be an angel, he had to be a god himself!

“That’s the last one. Human and completely zonked out.” Typha smiled.

“Good. Lambda, how many survivors?” Rem asked.

“I’ll check and let you know. Typha, count the survivors on the right side I’ll count the left.” Lambda ordered.

“Yeah, yeah…” Typha sighed before taking off.

“Are you hurt beyond your arm?” Rem asked the girl.

“I-I’ll live…” she nervously replied.

“I’m glad we managed to save somebody…” Rem sighed with relief.

“We’ve got ten survivors on the left, all adults in their mid twenties to late thirties.” Lambda reported.

“Seven on the right, all little kids except for the local priestess that was guarding them.” Typha chimed in.

“Out of how many people that lived here?” Rem asked the girl.

“T-That’s about a quarter left of the people who didn’t go on the usual fishing trips… so about this many are currently out at sea.” she replied.

“More than half the village died then.” Lambda sighed.

“We even booked it once we saw the flames…” Typha sighed.

“Don’t talk like that. It was tragic that they died, but we still have to make sure the rest stay alive.” Rem scolded them.

“Does anything get you down?” Typha laughed.

“Only when I can’t do something about a situation.” Rem shrugged.

“Well we can at least give them a Hell Orchid for protection.” Lambda told him.

“What’s that?” Rem asked.

“It’s a plant that produces malevolence and spreads it into the air. They all withered and perished when Maotelus and Sorey purified the world, but as humans can no longer become Hellions planting them again won’t cause any problems.” Lambda explained.

“If they’re extinct, how do we get them?” Typha asked raising an eyebrow.

“Rem, cry out of your right eye.” Lambda ordered him.

“What’ll that accomplish?” he asked prompting her to stomp on his foot making him shout hopping up and down holding his foot.

A blood red tear fell from his right eye that then crystallized as Lambda caught it in the palm of her hand. Lambda then walked to a nearby flower bed and made a hole to plant the tear in.

“W-What was that for?! That seriously hurt!” Rem cried.

“Tears from the Eyes of Malevolence produce Malevolent Seeds that then blossom into Hell Orchids within a week of being planted. Hell Orchids can be considered invasive though, as they will quickly take dominance of a flower bed if left unattended.” Lambda explained.

“…and we’re just planting one here?” Typha whistled.

“It will prevent the surviving villagers from turning into Ascended, and any Ascended that enter the village will be considerably weakened making it easier to deal with them.” Lambda told her.

“U-Um… who are you…?” the girl asked.

“I’m Rem, The Dark Shepherd.” Rem smiled at her making her blush.

“I’ll give the village chief the recipe to cure Ascended without needing us around as well.” Lambda told Rem before taking off.

“You can do that?” Rem asked.

“If Lambda says so it must be true. She’s the one with all the knowledge on this malevolence stuff.” Typha shrugged.

“Um… I’ve never heard about the Dark Shepherd.” the girl spoke.

“I’m sort of new. I’m trying to deal with a problem involving the Ascended.” Rem explained.

“It doesn’t look like you have anyone who can use magical artes in your group…” she explained. 

“Is that bad…?” Rem asked.

“If you can’t reach your target, like a flying enemy, I can blast it out of the sky.” she smiled.

“So you’re a witch is what you’re saying?” Typha asked.

“Yep! Marielou the Magnificent! My spells were sadly ineffective on those Ascended…” she introduced herself.

“Simple. Artes with no Malevolence infused into them have zero effect on an Ascended. The same is said about light in artes used against Hellions.” Lambda told her as she approached.

“So she’s useless.” Typha scoffed.

“Not necessarily. If she were to become a Maid, she’d gain the power to fight the Ascended.” Lambda told her.

“Maid?!” Marielou exclaimed.

“Do all positions helping the Dark Shepherd have to be called some form of servitude?” Rem asked.

“You may not like the terminology, but it was the first Dark Shepherd who came up with them. They cannot be changed now.” Lambda coldly stated.

“Well then if anyone asks she’s my ally.” Rem grumbled.

“Eh?” Marielou asked.

“You sounded like you wanted to come along. A spellcaster would benefit us like you said too.” Rem answered with a warm smile on his face making Marielou blush.

“Marielou…? You aren’t leaving are you…?” a small girl asked walking up to her.

“Sorry, but it sounds like his journey is important. I have a duty as a witch of the Mayvin Creed to help him.” Marielou answered kneeling down to pat the child’s head gently. 

“Mayvin? Hey I’ve heard of that family. They’re super strong witches and wizards that usually serve to protect the Rolance Empire’s royal family with magic said to be descended from Magillanica Lou Mayvin.” Rem smiled piecing together information.

“That’s right! So you can count on my magic,  even if it pales compared to my big bro’s magic... ” Marielou beamed.

“You just said something under your breath…” Typha stated.

“Huh? Did not. I’ll be all ‘Magikazam!’ and your problems will be dealt with, once that ally thingy you said is formed.” Marielou said with the world’s greatest poker face.

“So how’s it done, Lambda?” Rem asked her.

“Simple. She will take a vow of servitude, obeying your beck and call, and will receive a contract item from you.” Lambda answered.

“That description actually makes Maid sound appropriate…” Typha stated.

“I don’t gotta dress like a maid do I…?” Marielou asked nervously.

“Heck no.” Rem answered before Lambda could open her mouth.

“Whew! That’s a relief. Let’s do this thing.” Marielou beamed.

“Very well. Rem, activate the Eye.” Lambda instructed and Rem did so triggering his domain once more.

“Ooh…” Marielou spoke looking at the sky.

“Repeat after me: I, your full name, swear fealty to the Dark Shepherd, his ideals, his goals, and swear to aid him in completing his journey.” Lambda instructed her.

“Do I have to use my full name? It’s kinda long…” Marielou asked.

“Full… name… please…” Lambda growled with an agitated look.

“S-Sorry… I, Marielou Magica Magi Malachite Mana Morgana LeFay Mayvin, swear fealty to the Dark Shepherd, his ideals, his goals, and swear to aid him in completing his journey.” Marielou panickedly repeated.

“That is long…” Rem stated in shock.

“Now, give her an item to act as the symbol of servitude.” Lambda instructed Rem who then began rummaging through his pockets.

“You didn’t have one prepared?” Typha asked him.

“Aha! I can use this!” Rem exclaimed pulling what appeared to be an fancy-looking antique ring from his back pocket.

“MY RING!!!” Marielou exclaimed in horror.

“This is yours?” Rem asked.

“I’ve been looking for it for months so I’d given up hope… where’d you find it?” Marielou asked fervently on the verge of tears.

“It was lying on the ground at a camping spot on the way here. It looked nice so I picked it up.” Rem explained.

“If you use that ring as the contract item it’ll be two birds with one stone. You get an ally and she gets her ring back.” Lambda stated.

“Sounds good to me.” Rem smiled taking Marielou’s hand slipping the ring onto her making her blush deep red as a black magic marking appeared on the back of that hand.

“The contract is formed. Marielou will now be traveling with us. Our repertoire of combatants grew faster than expected, a welcomed unforeseen event.” Lambda nodded with a satisfied smile.

“Ah… I promise I won’t lose you again… Auntie Magilou would KILL me if she found out I lost the ring she gave me…” Marielou sighed with happiness nuzzling her ring.

“Magilou as in the original Magillanica?” Rem asked.

“Yep. Auntie pissed off a high-ranking Seraph so she got cursed with immortality at the age of thirty-eight. She claims to enjoy it but I can tell she misses her husband, I’m pretty sure it’s why she never remarried.” Marielou answered.

“Did she also name you?” Typha asked.

“Mom is mute due to an injury she got as a kid, so she and auntie went full sign language in the delivery room to get my name.” Marielou smiled.

“So besides fighting Ascended does she get any benefits?” Typha asked Lambda.

“She can Therionize with us just like Rem can, only to a lesser extent. Her transformations will only last as long as her stamina, but Malevolence sustains the transformation between Rem and us.” Lambda answered.

“Therion? Hey, I know what that is. It’s a breed of Hellion that grows stronger by feeding on other Hellions.” Marielou beamed confidently.

“True, but Rem is far from a Therion, he just has their power. Of course if he were to, say, disobey instructions again and tried to use power he isn’t ready for he just might become one or worse...” Lambda shrugged.

“I thought you said I was forgiven…?” Rem asked in shock.

“Don’t be so hard on him, he’s just excited to get better at controlling his powers.” Marielou beamed patting Lambda’s back.

“How far is Quartzen from here?” Rem asked Marielou.

“Well… it’s ten days on foot, six if you go by carriage… and two days by ship. Sadly there are no ships in this port right now...” Marilou answered.

“So we’ll go by foot to the next town and take a carriage from there. We’ve gotten this far by foot.” Rem smiled.

“Yeah but we have to go through the Haunted Woods to get there. That place is where the old lord of the land lived, but something happened there and monsters alongside Hellions showed up.” Marielou shrugged.

“Scared?” Typha snickered.

“Nah, especially when the place is a goldmine for potion ingredients. Healing, low-grade explosives, adhesives, remedies, bath soap - you name it I can probably get the ingredients for its potion form there. Auntie Magilou spent a good three years teaching me brewing, so I know what I’m doing and that’s a Marielou Guarantee.” she twirled and winked.

“So a little side stop there to gather ingredients doesn’t sound like too big an impossibility, especially if it means having spare healing potions for when we run out of gels.” Rem grinned thinking it over.

“It’s just down the path outside town. You can’t miss it from above, there’s a permanent thick fog among the treetops.” Marielou smiled.

“It is on the way…” Lambda sighed shrugging her shoulders.

“It’s also the perfect place for scrounging up affinity potions… perfect for bonding with new allies. Bond enough and romance is bounce to blossom...” Marielou cackled to herself as they began walking.

Almost all sunlight was blocked as they reached the Haunted Woods. Monsters immediately set on them, but Marielou blew them away with a massive fireball startling them. More came and she used icicles on them.

“Immediately useful.” Lambda spoke in amusement.

“I’ve come here at least a hundred times by now, you learn the monsters’ tricks eventually.” Marielou sighed with a smirk.

“You can use different elements with ease. How?” Typha asked with a serious expression.

“It’s easy with the right mindset. Anyone can do it, wanna try?” Marielou giggled.

“No thanks.” Typha scoffed.

“If you’re willing to teach!” Rem replied with stars in his eyes.

“Like a child to candy…” Lambda thought to herself.

“Well, let’s find a safe place first. We don’t want monsters interfering with the lesson.” Marielou giggled.

“The abandoned manor there should suffice.” Lambda suggested.

“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Rem cheered pulling Marielou by the hand.

“Ladies and gents, the Dark Shepherd…” Lambda thought to herself with an amused sigh.

“We better hurry or we’ll lose ‘em.” Typha shrugged.

Unsurprisingly the rusty lock on the gate broke the instant they touched it and then the gate itself promptly fell over. The doors were in such disrepair that Typha had to shoulder bash them open. Once inside they went to a room with large suits of armor around.

“Perfect. Can I have someone keeping an eye out for unwanted visitors?” Marielou asked.

“I can do that.” Typha scoffed with a confident grin.

“Now then, the first trick to mastering the elements… is giving them funny nicknames.” Marielou told Rem.

“Funny nicknames?” Rem questioned.

“Yep. You give them meaningful nicknames that remind you of what that element is. You cement what that element means to you in your head, and use it to channel that power. That’s how Auntie Magilou taught me, of course I was five at the time so I couldn’t read the tomes she carries around her waist.” Marielou explained.

“Agni, a heat that warms the soul and provides comfort in the darkest night.” Rem spoke in a serious tone.

“Perfect! Using that name you personify the element of fire. Using that name to channel its element, you can perform all kinds of artes as you master it.” Marielou exclaimed pointing at him.

“All I need to do is learn how.” Rem smiled.

“Let’s start with the most basic of basic fire spells - Firebolt.” Marielou told him gesturing toward one of the suits of armor.

“Okay. What do I do?” Rem asked.

“Aim a hand at you target, close your eyes, and focus on Agni. Picture Agni channeling the fire. After it’s gathered the amount you want, call out the arte’s name. You can’t have too little or it won’t have any power, but too much and it might become an arte you can’t control.” Marielou explained in detail.

In Rem’s head, he tried to picture Agni. The visage that appeared before him was a massive black and purple dragon with piercing red eyes. A powerful feeling of dread came over him.

“So you want to use the elements as well as Malevolence…? They don’t play nice with us…” the dragon spoke in a disapproving male voice.

“Agni… whatever your appearance… I swear I will protect you.” Rem thought to himself, and to the dragon’s shock a small flame appeared before it.

“How unusual… a little fire spirit came to call your soul home even knowing that darkness is all around it.” the dragon spoke tilting his head.

The flame quickly took shape as a small female fairy with yellow skin dressed in a short-hem orange gown holding a full-size longsword thin enough so she can hold the handle. She smiled as she began forming a small fireball on the tip of the sword.

“I have taken the name Agni, and shall provide all of your fire-element needs. I’m little now, but soon I’ll be big and strong and can make a huge fire! I’ll be able to make a meteor!” she cried cheerfully.

“Rem… Rem… Rem! That’s more than enough!” Marielou’s voice yelled startling Rem from his trance.

At his palm was a colossal sphere of fire with hints of darkness within it. He tried to disarm it, but instead it launched from his hand taking out the entire right side of the manor’s first floor with an intense blast of flame. Lambda had to partially strangle herself to keep from laughing and Typha was rolling on the floor losing her senses. Some monsters came, saw the trail from the explosion, and quickly left before they could be spotted.

“Well, at least it didn’t explode on top of you. I hold the record in my household, even earning the nickname ‘Explodielou’ from auntie.” Marielou giggled.

“I saw… a dragon in my subconscious… and then Agni appeared… a fire spirit in my soul…?” Rem told her.

“Oh, probably should have mentioned that. Humans can tether elemental beings to them, such as spirits. It’s inviting them to live inside you as a source of mana. They in turn magnify your ability to channel that element, allowing more advanced arte use with time. If what Lambda said about your eye is true, then that dragon you saw has always been inside you. It explains your knack for dark-elemental artes.” Marielou giggled nervously.

“So you have a bunch of spirits living in your soul?” Rem asked her.

“Yep! Lava, Blizzard, Rain, Mountain, Thunder, and Day. It’s very hard if not impossible to get a Dark Spirit these days, sadly.” Marielou named her spirits off.

“Will I have to repeat this process for the other elements?” Rem asked dusting himself off.

“Not if you mentally leave placeholders via their names in your soul. Of course, that also means you have no clue what kind of Spirit will appear to fill it. It’s lengthy to vacate a name too, plus if that Spirit wanted to they could give you a bad reputation among their kind and that’s a mess to clean up let me tell you. My first Fire Spirit was super bitter about being let go because he wouldn’t help me cast the spell that I wanted and not what it wanted to cast.” Marielou shrugged.

“Some spirits are finicky, that much is true. There are also very generous ones who love to help.” Lambda sighed. 

“Well, you can practice here while I gather ingredients. I won’t take longer than an hour, try not to burn down the forest.” Marielou giggled running off into the woods.

“So suddenly this is our basecamp?” Typha questioned.

“I trust her.” Rem shrugged.

“Rem. Do you want to try Therionization again?” Lambda asked him.


End file.
